Monday, September 21, 2009

One way to make your golf rounds more enjoyable is to know your exact yardages - to the pin, to the sand trap, to the trouble. On some courses, the carts have GPS technology built in to give you rough estimates of yardage to the pin.

There are much better technologies out there to make the game even easier -- and faster since you are no longer walking off yardages to yard markers on the course.

There are many GPS devices, which you hold in your hand, almost like a cell phone, while they flash all types of information on the screen. Some of these devices, like the popular SkyCaddie, add an annual charge to download courses into the device. The Rangefinder, akin to holding binoculars in your hand, don’t come with any charge fees and allow you to measure direct distance to wherever you point the device.

But which is better?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve tested a SkyCaddie SG4 model against the new Bushnell Pro 1600 Slope Edition.

The Bushnell is simple to use. You remove the cap on one end, look through the lens and press a button to lock in on your target. The slope version, which is not legal for tournament play, will even adjust your distance for elevation. This way you’re not guessing how much extra club to take to reach an elevated green.

The unit is waterproof and has 7x magnification, allowing you to measure things up to 400 yards away.

The SkyCaddie displays yardages to different points on each hole. You simply look down and instantly get information. You can get yardage to different pins and measure how far your tee shots are going (tip: you don’t hit it as far as you think).

The Bushnell is neat because there are no restrictions on what it can measure, though you’ll need a steady hand. I’m never 100 percent sure I’m locking on to what I think I am. Thankfully, you can “drag” the viewfinder across a target and see a few different readings.

On the range, the Bushnell is king. You can measure exactly how far your 8-iron is going and exactly how far it is to the red flag. You can do this, kind of, with the SkyCaddie, but you have to walk off the distance in “edit” mode - and watch out for flying balls while you walk out on the range.

Ultimately, though, the SkyCaddie is faster and easier to use while playing. It’s a personal preference, but being able to immediately see your distances and punch up best layup yardages and ideal tee shot yardages, with no guess-work, is a neat addition to your game.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Private schools need to change the rules? How about just making the right call?

Even though the Bruce Hardin coached PD player pushed the Mike Minter coached FA player that caused a bench clearing brawl the real blame goes to the Minter FA team even though it was initiated by the Hardin PD team.

It needs to be said also for all the tons of local news mice new to town and do not know the history of living legend Bruce Hardin THE Godfather of High School Charlotte Football so they harp only on ex-Panther Minter, that 43 year Charlotte Hardin coach KNOWS the rules while Minter is a greenie at a new football school.

Lets face it. Bruce Hardin taught Tommy Knotts everything he knows. Had there never been a Bruce Hardin there would not have been a Tommy Knotts and no 7 straight NCHSAA Indy rings or record national public school consecutive 109 wins. Its that simple. Knotts followed up Hardin at Harding and West Charlotte leaving both teams intact in great shape before he went on a major tear at Indy.

The student is never above the teacher.

It is not uncommon to push scoring players in the end zone after a TD and get a penalty assessed on the kickoff. Nobody got hurt on the push that wasnt that bad. Thats just football.

Minters FA team who have only been in existence a couple yrs showed their newbie greenness to high school rules and norms totally overreating.

Minter needs to teach his players who are not in NCHSAA thus unaware of how the game is played, that you let the refs do their job and NEVER EVER go after a player like this.

Hardins players were simply defending their own and prob had never sen a whole team rush the field to gang assault a player as FA did.

If anybody knows the rules and norms of high school it is Hardin. Minter and his FA are still learning.

It is not uncommon to push scoring players in the end zone after a TD and get a penalty assessed on the kickoff. Nobody got hurt on the push that wasnt that bad. Thats just football.Thanks for sharing this point.

Golf GPS units use world positioning system technology to assist golfers determine distance distances. GPS uses satellites to supply positioning knowledge. The satellite sends a symptom to Earth and tracks the time between transmission and reception of the signal. to urge correct knowledge, a method referred to as transliteration is employed. Between many satellites operating to supply signal knowledge and with geometric transliteration, correct positioning knowledge will be sent to a receiver. during this case the golf GPS receiver.

About this blog

Langston Wertz Jr., an Observer writer since 1988, played his first round of golf on Dec. 6, 1999 -- the same day his oldest son was born. He's been hooked on the game -- and to the equipment you play it with -- ever since.